Need for heating assistance rises as temperature drops
Unusually cold weather and escalating oil prices may converge into an economic storm for homeowners this winter.
In Boston, the month of December was 2.4 degrees colder than average, and temperatures are expected to dip into the single digits again tonight.
Locals may think twice before cranking the thermostats, though, as the average cost of a barrel of oil broke the $100 mark for the first time Wednesday.
While not exactly an insightful economic revelation for Michael Ferrante, it remains nonetheless a fact for the president of the Massachusetts Oil Heat Council: As the temperature drops, the demand for heat goes up.
"I don't mean to sound arrogant, but, yeah, that's pretty much how it goes," Ferrante said.
Such a convergence of factors found David Harrison, director for the South Middlesex Opportunity Council's energy and financial assistance division, pining for spring and criticizing the stagnancy in federal fuel assistance stipends. Since 1986, Harrison said, the average stipend granted to families through the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program has hovered around $800.
SMOC runs the local fuel assistance program - filtering federal funds into 37 communities. The organization directly pays the fuel provider - not just oil, but also natural gas and coal among other types of fuel - of approved applicants, while certain municipal departments, such as a senior center or the department of human services, act as local liaisons for Framingham organization.
While the need for heating subsidies is constant - Harrison reported having a 7 percent increase in applications from last heating season - federal funding for such subsidies has flattened.
In the late 1980s, homeowners could fill their tanks two or three times with an $800 stipend, Harrison said.
"If you are in the worst situation, your fuel assistance would (now) only get one fill-up," he said.
In Milford, Ruth Anne Bleakney, director for the town's senior center, reported 62 new applications for heating assistance this year, in addition to the 20 to 30 people from last year who applied again.
While oil rates soar, Harrison said the rate SMOC pays for oil has increased 20 to 25 percent in the past year.
Harrison was joined yesterday by U.S. Rep. Edward Markey, who lobbied President Bush to release more aid thorough the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program, which contains $600 million in reserve funds.
"It's not just the weather that is sending a chill down the spines of many Americans, it's the oil prices heating up as well," Markey said in a statement.
Harrison said: "This country would blast through that $600 million in two months."
New Englanders would do well to study their own fuel consumption in an effort to reduce their winter bills, said Tom Carey, owner of Jamie Oil, which serves 5,000 customers in the region. Subtle measures like shutting the damper in a fireplace, installing storm windows, or keeping the thermostat down in rooms that are unoccupied can add up to significant savings, he said.
"If you have 2,000 square feet in your house and are using more than 800 gallons (for a season), there's something wrong," he said.
SMOC received about $2.5 million to distribute to the community to subsidize fuel costs and help winter-proof homes.
"We need more money," he said. "We weatherized 250 households, but we could have done 800 if we had the funding."
To qualify for federal help, a person has to be within 200 percent of the federal poverty level. This means a four-person family's total income cannot exceed $41,300, said Moira Munns, Natick's director of human services. For those that exceed that criteria, there are other fuel assistance programs in the area, such as the Salvation Army's Good Neighbor Energy Fund.
Often hailed as a prudent way to save cash, buying fuel in the summer when prices are traditionally lower is not the cure-all, said Ferrante, who noted last summer the cost of a barrel of oil was more than $80.
"The market just doesn't allow you to stow it away," Ferrante said.